St. Luke’s Affordable Housing in North Park

 

St. Luke’s Vision Gives Rise to Spiritual Construction Work

 

 

Ten years ago, the community garden was occupied by a mission-style chapel that had been relocated from All Saints’ Hillcrest in 1924. The Diocese and congregation initially worked with the historic preservation community to relocate and restore the chapel but ultimately accepted that they would need to demolish the building when they could not find a buyer. The chapel’s demolition created space for St. Luke’s to expand its participation in an urban farming and culinary arts job training program for refugee women and youth. In the next few months, St. Luke’s vision of redeveloping the property will take new shape as the corner lot is transformed into a construction site.

This fundraiser is organized by The Episcopal Parish of St. Luke in San Diego

 

 

Yunis Deng Kur was a respected elder among the Sudanese community, who was known for generosity and care for others. He was born in Abwong, which is located south of Malakal town in South Sudan. Yunis died in the hospital on Sunday, January 19 after an illness that tortured his body for the past two years. Yunis was a hard worker but his illness forced him to stop working. Yunis will be missed by many of his friends in San Diego who have known him for the last twenty years.

Dear Friends of St. Luke’s North Park

Dear Friends of St. Luke’s --

This morning, after learning that former president Trump has been re-elected for another term, I kept thinking about how we at St. Luke’s have been preparing for this all fall – just as we have been preparing for the possibility that Vice President Harris might be elected, too. Because we have reflected on the central work and call of Christians in every age and around the globe, living within and under every kind of political authority:

• To love God and to love our neighbor as our highest priority and greatest commandment. In the past two months, our readings from the letter of James reminded us that “to love” our neighbor means actively caring for them in their physical needs, and in the gospel of Luke’s parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus reminds us that “our neighbor” might be the people in our communities (or nation) we have been taught to think of as our enemies, or adversaries.
• To defend and protect the most vulnerable members of society. Throughout our Scriptures, we receive instruction to especially care for the poor, the oppressed, “the orphan and the widow” (shorthand for those people who lack legal and/or economic protection). God knows the human heart, and so God knows that we are prone to forget and neglect those without power, especially if we are “comfortable” or “okay” – but God’s Word, in Jesus and in the Scriptures, prods us to actively preserve, protect, and strengthen any lives threatened with violence, oppression, or degradation.
• To build for the kingdom of God, which transcends any moment in history. We cannot and will not “bring the kingdom” or “build the kingdom” as human beings – but we are called to build FOR the kingdom, adding our efforts, day in and day out, in ways big and small, for a reign that is marked by wholeness & healing, justice & peace, truth & reconciliation, beauty & joy. Our mission as Christians remains unchanged, as stated in the Book of Common Prayer: “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” There is plenty of unifying work to do, and we are promised that our efforts matter to God – the loving actions we take endure beyond our understanding.

And, of course, I recognize that at St. Luke’s, we might be feeling a particular fear, anxiety, or grief due to the president-elect’s extremely negative language around immigrants, when so many in our beloved community are immigrants, refugees, and former refugees. Together as a church family, we can and will continue to proclaim in word and deed the value and dignity of new Americans. We have many families at St. Luke’s who have been resettled in the U.S. in the past year, and along with our sister non-profit, RefugeeNet, we hope to officially welcome 30 more individuals before the end of January. There is plenty of loving work to do, which brings to mind 1 John 4:18: “Perfect love casts out fear.” We are fortunate to have important opportunities to love and serve directly at hand, right now and in the months to come.

In the midst of significant political changes in this country, the perpetual invitation from God toward loving action is the same – and Christ Jesus is indeed with us through the Spirit.  We pray you know some measure of Christ’s peace, which passes understanding, as we navigate this new terrain.

Christ's love,

Mtr. Laurel and Fr. Colin

The Cultivate Gathering 2024

 

Click here to give to St. Luke's today

 

St. Luke’s is thriving – and we need your help more than ever to keep this good work going. Many of our congregants continue to struggle in our expensive city.  And yet there’s so much to celebrate as we head into our centennial year. To name just a few …

• We have been privileged to welcome four newly resettled families from refugee camps in Tanzania and Kenya, which has helped raise our Sunday attendance back to our pre-pandemic levels.  Through God’s grace, we continue reaching newcomers from North Park as well.
• Our flourishing youth group capped our program year with a trip to Sea World, and ten enjoyed a pilgrimage to Alaska with St. Peter’s Del Mar and the Episcopal Youth Event in Washington, D.C.  We are grateful to all who made these opportunities possible!
• Over the month of October our children’s program developed six new Godly Play stories raising up American and African saints and wove them together with the personal stories of six of our congregants.  Then we shared these stories with the church in intergenerational small groups on “Our Saints Sunday” at the end of the month.  We hope to make these lovely and moving materials available to the wider church!
• We are working hard, with help from Boston University’s School of Theology, to create a more “trauma responsive” culture that honors, and creates the conditions for healing, for most all of us who have been affected by the many sides and faces of trauma. Our annual retreat at Camp Stevens was a particularly blessed space for this work.

We need your help to keep these blessings flowing.  We write now to ask for your financial support in the year ahead.  Please prayerfully consider a one-time or monthly donation to St. Luke’s.  You can give by clicking here (and click on the “monthly” button for recurring gifts).

Thank you for your consideration, and please don't hesitate to be in touch with questions -- we'd love a chance to share more about God's good work in North Park, and would love to talk in person with you!

In Christ’s hope and power, and with deep thanks for your support,

Laurel and Colin

ASHES TO GO 2023

ASHES TO GO 2023

By: Chris Tumilty, EDSD Director of Communications

On a cold and windy day in EDSD, hundreds of people were offered a moment to interact with God–on a street corner, at a bus stop, on a tuft of grass between classes. Churches throughout the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego hit the streets on Ash Wednesday to remind people of our humanity and the love of Jesus Christ. In City Heights, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church fanned out across the neighborhood for their 9th year of Ashes to Go. Thérèse Carmona said, “We made our way to the busy intersection of University & Fairmount Avenues with their adjacent businesses, stores, offices, and non-profit agencies. There, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the early morning, sacred and grace-filled moments happened again and again.” Read More

Clergy Transition Updates The Ven. Cindy Campos, in addition to her duties as Archdeacon, will serve at St. Dunstan’s twice a month beginning April 1. While not at St. Dunstan’s, Cindy will continue her visitations around the diocese.

The Rev. Colin Mathewson was commissioned as a Navy chaplain in the reserves on Ash Wednesday. Rev. Colin will continue to serve at St. Luke's in North Park, and he is looking forward to the opportunity to care for servicemembers and their families as a chaplain. Read More

ECS Moonlight Magic Gala Episcopal Community Services invites you to a night of creative cuisines, live music, and fun auction items on May 14 at Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn, a luxurious tropical waterfront with stunning views of the San Diego Bay, to raise funds to support ECS’s transformative programs.

MORE

Lenten Book Study Churches across the diocese are encouraged to gather in small groups to explore how your church can be known to our neighbors through care, reconciliation, and renewal. After all, a church that cares for its neighborhood is the type of church others want to join.

MORE

Gifts to ERD Support those in Crisis Episcopal Relief and Development help people facing hardships all over the world. Consider making a donation to ERD to support families devastated by war in Ukraine, earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, or those effected by climate change.

GIVE

Faith to Go Join the Faith To Go team, David Tremaine and Charlette Preslar, and special guest, the Rev. Mary Lynn Coulson, as they explore Lenten practices and generational healing in this week's episode.

Collaborative Effort Brings Food To People In Need In North Park

A Message From Mtr. Laurel and Fr. Colin

Grace and peace to you from the monastic community of Grandchamp! After 11 Sundays of being away from worshipping with you in North Park, my heart is still with you each Sunday morning, and indeed each day in prayer. As we round the corner toward our return, I wanted to give a brief update about our past, present, and future whereabouts.

Colin and I were part of the transformative East African delegation journey, as I imagine you have gathered from stories and pictures, while our kids stayed in San Diego with their grandparents. At the beginning of July we left for a sabbatical journey as a family of four, beginning in the Baltimore / Washington D.C. area. While Colin served as a deputy at the General Convention, the kids and I went to stay with a dear friend of mine from high school in Berlin, Germany. After Convention, Colin re-joined us and we had a few days as a family of four before we set out on the "marriage renewal" portion of our sabbatical, traveling just the two of us by car for one week from Barcelona to Rome...while Pete and Penny (Colin's parents) watched the kids again for us (they really win the grandparents of the year award)!

Once we were all reunited in Rome, we did some sightseeing there and in France (see picture from the little village of La Brede) before Colin returned home to San Diego with Robin and Jem so they could start school. All of this family travel has been paid for by the once-in-a-lifetime clergy renewal grant I received from the Lilly Foundation, and we are so grateful for both the funds and for all of YOUR generosity of time and spirit in making it possible.

Now, I am writing to you from an ecumenical women`s monastery called "Grandchamp" in Switzerland, where I get to stay for 3 weeks for free as a work-prayer volunteer. (You can check it out online here.) I join in the community`s rhythm of prayer in French four times a day, and share in the work of the community, like cooking and cleaning, 24 hours per week. All of the meals but two each week are shared in silence, so I have a lot of time to think of all the lovely people I am missing back in San Diego, and enter a deeper stillness. I am reading and learning and hope to be truly spiritually refreshed by the time I return to my family, and to you! When I return to San Diego, Colin will take his own time of retreat with God, and then we will see you all again on October 2. You may see Jem and Robin before then, because we don`t want them to miss the start of our children`s formation program year.

I am so curious about all you have been experiencing in your own "renewal Sundays," and look forward to our time of reunion. In the meantime, both Colin and I continue to hold you in our hearts, minds, and prayers.

With Christ`s love, always, (Mtr.) Laurel and (Fr.) Colin

Day of Pentecost | 06.05.22

St. Luke's Chef's Dinners

 

St. Luke's Episcopal Church 12/20/21

St Lukes North Park Celebrates the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost!

St. Luke's North Park will become a parish again!

Bishop Susan and the diocesan Standing Committee approved our application to become a parish!  (Parishes are financially self-sustaining and have more autonomy than a diocesan mission, while still remaining a part of the Episcopal Church.)  Please see her letter to our community below.

St. Luke's began as a mission of the diocese when it was planted by All Saint's Hillcrest in 1923, and remained so until becoming a parish in the late 1930s.  It remained a parish until 2011, when it was converted to mission status after no longer being able to pay for building upkeep or a full-time priest.  Though our faith community continued to thrive in important ways in the past ten years, it required diocesan subsidies to keep the doors open.  In the past several years, however, we have been strengthened by a significant investment of funds from the diocese, neighboring churches, and the wider Episcopal Church that has allowed us to grow, stabilize, and now to become a parish once again.  

God has been hard at work throughout this history blessing our people and this neighborhood, and it has been a joy, a delight, a privilege, and a challenge to join in alongside.  But we have done it together, to God's greater glory!  Can't wait to enter into this new chapter with you, which will include another congregational meeting in the months ahead to adopt bylaws and elect our vestry members.

By the way, did you see our learning pod's mention in the LA Times and Mtr. Laurel's Easter commentary in the Union-Tribune?

In thanksgiving,

Fr. Colin and Mtr. Laurel

From Bishop Susan to the People of St Lukes:

Dear Leaders and Members of St. Luke’s:

I write to you in Easter season, a season of resurrection. I am delighted that on April 20, the Standing Committee of our diocese voted to restore St. Luke’s to parish status. It is appropriate that this vote happens in Easter season, in appreciation for the new life and renewal that has taken place there. The vote recognizes the long process of growth that St. Luke’s has been engaged in. Over the last decade, our diocese has been inspired and overjoyed to watch St. Luke’s thrive, following Jesus in his command to go forth into the world and make disciples.

Our whole diocese is proud of the hard work you have done at St. Luke’s to achieve this milestone in spiritual, missional, and financial growth. You have made a difference to many lives, feeding the hungry, teaching and supporting children through a pandemic, helping people develop new skills, and creating partnerships with neighbors in your community. St. Luke’s is truly a model of what God is calling our churches to become: icons of Christ’s love for this world. As your bishop, I am delighted to support you through this transition back to parish status.

In thanking you for your ministry of Courageous Love, I particularly want to thank the Revs. Colin and Laurel Mathewson, whose faithfulness has supported you through this growth process. I am grateful for their dedicated work among you. I am also grateful to the leaders on your Bishop’s Committee who have worked hard to help you achieve financial and ministry sustainability. I am inspired by your beautiful choir and musicians, and gladdened by your work of teaching the Christian faith to children and youth. I appreciate your partnership with RefugeeNet and the leaders in your congregation who help it to thrive alongside St. Luke’s, and am pleased to watch your committed partnership with other neighborhood organizations. St. Luke’s has truly become an example of dedicated community ministry for the rest of the diocese.

There are a few more steps to take to finalize the transition to parish status, and our diocese will guide you through those steps. For now, I celebrate with you as you mark this milestone moment in the history of St. Luke’s. Thank you for your prayers and witness in Christ’s name, and you are in my prayers as you continue your life in Christ.

Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed!

Easter Blessings,

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Susan Brown Snook, Bishop

St Lukes North Park Celebrates the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

St. Luke's Celebrates the Fourth Sunday of Advent!

St Lukes Celebrates the Third Sunday of Advent!

RefugeeNet is "coming home" to St. Luke's in North Park

 

We are delighted to share exciting news: RefugeeNet and St. Luke's have entered into a powerful new partnership that will reduce expenses and enhance services for our beloved refugee brothers and sisters in San Diego!  Some 20 years after St. Luke's parishioners began a ministry to Sudanese refugees arriving in our neighborhood, RefugeeNet is "coming home" to St. Luke's.  Here's what this means:

• RefugeeNet will reduce overhead by housing its office at St. Luke's, freeing up funds they had been spending on rent and utilities to serve those most in need.

• RefugeeNet has increased former refugee involvement in its governance and staff leadership: Katherine Bom will serve as Interim Executive Director, Joseph Jok is our new board president, and Nicodemus Lim will also serve on the board.

• RefugeeNet will enhance its tutoring work by integrating St. Luke's food distribution, case management and job development activities as "wrap around" services for the entire family.

• RefugeeNet's unwavering commitment to the health, wellbeing, and education of the many refugee communities in our midst remains rock solid.

We will spend more time soon celebrating the tireless and good work of Jake Young, RefugeeNet's former executive director and board president, who has retired from the board.  His dedication to the cause is deeply, deeply appreciated.

For those looking for more details about what's in store, check out our frequently asked questions section below!

In gratitude to you, without whom we couldn't do this work,

Joseph Jok, board president

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly does this mean?  Is this a merger?

RefugeeNet is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego.  St. Luke's is an Episcopal church mission of that same diocese.  Both organizations will continue to operate independently from one another (i.e., we will have different boards, separate budgets, and separate staff).  The new relationship between the two organizations is expressed most significantly in the governance of the organization through the addition of three St. Luke's members to the RefugeeNet board.

Why now?  

In August, RefugeeNet's education director resigned, inviting RefugeeNet to take stock of its recent pivot to purely educational programming.  RefugeeNet's board members were looking for  additional support and new energy.  All the while, St. Luke's has been following RefugeeNet's work like a proud parent, and we've been glad to help however we best could and were most needed.  Now feels like the right time to give some extra life to RefugeeNet's critical work in the community.  St. Luke's is also excited about the possibility of running a refugee-led catering social enterprise through RefugeeNet at some point in the future.

If I'm already a donor to St. Luke's and RefugeeNet, should I just make one gift in the future?

We're glad you asked!  Both our organizations are so grateful for your support, and we both need your continued support as much as ever.  Our organizations will continue operating separately, which includes separate bank accounts, EIN numbers, and tax-exempt statuses.  The bookkeeper for both our organizations, Michael Mawien, is a former refugee and has an MBA.  Our controller, Erin Sacco Pineda, is a CPA and serves in a similar capacity for several churches in the diocese.

Who is the new Interim Executive Director? Who are RefugeNet's new board members?

Katherine Bom has served as a case manager at RefugeeNet for many years.  A former refugee from Sudan, she speaks Arabic, Dinka, and Nuer, and is well-trusted within several San Diego refugee communities and the several churches that our support our work.  Joseph Jok arrived in this country from Sudan almost 22 years ago and served as a case manager and resettlement program supervisor at the International Rescue Committee for 17 years.  He is now a court interpreter and serves as the vice president of the diocesan Executive Council.  He is a veterinarian by training and holds a Master of Arts in International Relations.   Nicodemus Lim was a Lost Boy who was resettled here twenty years ago from Sudan.  He holds a Masters in Public Administration and works as a database analyst for the City of San Diego.  Colin Mathewson has served as the co-pastor of St. Luke's for the past four years.

You can also keep up with 

St. Luke's North Park on Twitter or Facebook.

St. Luke's North Park Reports on May 22nd, 2020

St. Luke's North Park

Your prayers and gifts mean the world to us -- THANK YOU for your support.

We have great news to share with you!  The San Diego Foundation recently announced that St. Luke's was awarded a $25,000 grant to increase our capacity to serve the Sudanese and Congolese refugee communities of San Diego.  These funds will allow us to move Katherine Bom, our Pastoral Care Minister, to full-time work from her previous part-time position for at least the next ten months.  This means more food, more house visits to help families sign up for unemployment, and more phone calls to connect those struggling with the resources they need to get through this difficult time.  Thanks be to God!

We are also excited to announce the award of a $10,000 Neighborhood Reinvestment Grant from the County Board of Supervisors to purchase food and needed household supplies for San Diego's refugee communities.  While it may not feel at times that we are "all in this together," we are doing what we can to walk alongside those who are suffering most right now made possible by the generosity of so many, including you.

We hope you'll check out the many uplifting worship, music, and teaching videos we're producing each week; and join us when you can at 11:15 am on Sunday for our latest live worship offering, too!
God is indeed at work among us. Know that you are loved by our powerful God and your generosity is blessing God's people richly.  If you are able to give to the Emergency Assistance Fund, you can do so here.  Or if you're able to make a monthly gift to sustain our basic operations -- more appreciated than ever at this time -- you can do so here.

May you continue living more deeply into resurrection life,
Colin and Laurel - Priests and Pastors to God and His people in North Park @ St Luke's Church on 30th Street

North Park Christian Service Agency 2002

Before Uptown Community Service Center there was 

the North Park Christian Service Agency 

located at St. Luke's Episcopal Church San Diego on 30th Street. 

Here is a copy of the newsletter we just stumbled upon. 

Love in Jesus name continues in our neighborhood.